Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Brazilian President Luiz Lula Da Silva signed 15 cooperation treaties that attempt to strengthen ties between both countries, based on reciprocal investments, with a special emphasis on the energy and foods areas.

The leaders signed the agreements in the Comprehensive Agrarian Training Socialist Centre, in the locality of El Tigre, in the Venezuelan state of Anzoátegui, after visiting the soy plantations of the region which encompass part of the treaties signed in order to strengthen the food sovereignty and security, media sources informed.

The Heads of State agreed to conclude negotiations between state oil companies Pdvsa and Petrobras so as to incorporate the Venezuelan Pdvsa as shareholder in the construction and activation of the Abreu e Lima Refinery, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

On one hand, directors of Pdvsa and of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht subscribed an agreement to create Convenpro, which will be in charge of the development of the Deep Conversion in Refinery project of Puerto La Cruz, thanks to a second treaty.

They also extended the memorandum of understanding in order to extend the alliance between Venezuelan Pequiven and Braskem in order to implement the petrochemical facilities in Camaçari, Bahía.

The presidents also signed a treaty which refers to the execution of joint feasibility studies for the development of hydrocarbons in Mara Oeste and Sibucara (state of Zulia) by Pdvsa and Odebrecht.

The Venezuelan Science, Technology, and Intermediate Industries Minister initialled an agreement with the Brazilian Agency of Industrial Development (Abdi) for the development of the Puerto Ordaz-Manaos productive axis, which will contribute to the process of industrialization in Venezuela.

The signing of the agreements was completed with smaller treaties referring to production development, digital television, biotechnology, hotels, housing, sports, and health. The analysis of the trade balance was part of the leaders' agenda, worried about the elevated deficit for Venezuela in the annual exchange of almost six billion dollars.

In reference to this, Lula indicated that the import of oil for the Pernambuco refinery "will help trim the trade balance," although he highlighted that Brazil "can do more" to level out the exchange.

Lula arrived in Caracas last night with the approval by the Commission of Foreign Relations of the Brazilian Senate of the accession protocol for the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur under his arm, a document that must now be debated by the plenary of the Upper House, where the opposition will insist that Chávez's government is a threat to Mercosur.